


The Builder's Sister

by MisselthwaiteManor



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Happy Ending, Love Triangles, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 13,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisselthwaiteManor/pseuds/MisselthwaiteManor
Summary: The new greenie got sent up in the box like all the ones before him. The only difference was that it wasn't a 'him'. Diana is sent into the Glade where she is reunited with her brother, Gally, but she also meets the other boys in the Glade. To say the least, the teens were immediately infatuated with her, but she can only have one. Which boy will win her heart?**Important note, I started this story in 2016 and the first few chapters are a little rough, I'm still trying to get around to edit it
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

_Clank. Clank. Clank._

I open my eyes groggily.

_Where… where am I?_

My back is against cold metal, the grate biting into my butt. I am in a box. There is no light, other than the blinking red one on the other side of this contraption. Peering around I notice crates with red, spray painted words pointing diagonally. _WICKED._

_Who the heck is WICKED?_

I start to panic. My breathing comes out in short pants.

_Keep it together…. Keep it together… what's my name? Why can't I remain anything?_

The box comes to a halt, throwing me forward. I scramble to the corner.

_Diana. That_ is _my name._

Suddenly, the light of a thousand suns is burning my eyes and voices erupt from above me.

"Wonder if the greenie klunked his pants."

"Nah, I bet he's crying for mommy."

"Hope greenbean is a slicer, we could use another"

A boy jumps down into the metal contraption. He has ruffled, dirty blond hair and brown eyes that look like chocolate.

_Did I just think that a guy I don't know has chocolate eyes. Dear God, I'm messed up in the head._

"Hey greenie, I'm Newt. Now, get up. You can't stay here forever," Newt introduces in a British accent.

I look up and meet his eyes.

"You're… you're a girl," he gasps.

"Umm… yes?" I respond uncertainly.

"Shuck," he mutters and runs his right hand through his hair.

"Hey, Newt! What's the hold up?" a voice inquires from above.

"It's a girl," he shouts.

It gets quiet for a moment, then it explodes into chatter.

"It's a GIRL?"

"Is she hot?"

"I call dibs."

"SHUT THE SHUCK UP!" an authoritative voice orders.

Apparently this guy is respected around here.

"Newt, bring her up here," respected guy says, no, more like orders.

Newt looks at me with a questioning look in my eyes. I slowly rise to my feet, leaning back against the wall for support. I take and step forward, staggering I fail to remain balanced. I would've fell on my face, had it not been for Newt's lean arm that snaked around my waist and pulled me against him.

I feel my face redden as I meet his eyes, he's blushing too.

"We, uh, we should, uh, go up there," he mumbles and I nod, "You should hold onto that rope and they'll pull you up."

I untangle myself from Newt's arms and grab the frayed rope and putting my foot in the loop.

"Pull her up!" Newt shouts to the people above.

The rope is pulled upwards. When I can reach the top of the box, I clutch the edge and lift myself out of the box, immediately landing in a crouch. I move my legs slowly until I am standing up.

I take time to observe my surroundings, there are enormous, cement walls enclosing us on each side, otherwise it looks like a little village. There are fifty to sixty people are gathered around me, and they are all boys.

_Where are the other girls? Am I the only girl here? Why are they all looking at me like I am a piece of meat?_

I begin to understand when a boy, about six foot with brown eyes and jet black hair, reaches to touch my chest.

"Touch me and you won't have any fingers to try again," I say venomously.

The boy recoils in shock, I'm not sure if it is because of what I said or the fact that I spoke. He slowly reaches forward and I narrow my eyes.

"I don't recommend you to do that, she probably would cut off your fingers, and she can do it with a variety of weapons," a familiar voice warns.

I scan the crowd for the person who spoke, then I see him.

"Gally!" I exclaim as I scramble over to him. I throw my arms around his neck and embrace him. He wraps his arm around waist and chuckles.

"Gally, who is the girl and how do you know her?" authoritative voice asks.

I turn and see he's a seventeen or eighteen year old African-American. He's dressed in a dark blue shirt and black jeans.

Realizing I have no idea what I'm wearing, I look down. I'm wearing a longsleeve shirt with gray and white stripes, black joggers, and high top converse that have gray and white zigzags.

"You worthless shanks get the pleasure of meeting my baby sister, Diana," Gally replies.

The African-American holds out his arms. "Well, Diana, welcome to the Glade."


	2. Chapter 2

**Diana's POV:**

"The Glade?" I inquire.

"The Glade." he nods. "By the way, the name's Alby, I'm the leader of this shuckin' place. You will learn everything you need to know on the tour."

I bob my head and take the chance to look at my surroundings. There are four enormous openings in the even bigger walls that encompass this area. There is a shack with animals enclosed in a pen near it. There is also a building that looks like a house. Cots are hung from multiple trees and there are blankets that lie in the grass.

"Alright, everyone back to work!" hollers Alby.

Grumbling and groaning comes from the male adolescents, but they all slowly go back to work. Except for Newt, Gally, and Alby.

Alby looks at Gally. "I'll go ahead and take the greenbean for the tour, the runners'll be back soon."

Gally nods and turns towards me. "Go ahead, Diana."

Alby and I begin to walk around the green expanse of my new home.

"No questions until the end, greenie."

I bob my head.

"Over here is the Bloodhouse, that's where what we call Slicers work there, they raise and kill animals which are sent to the kitchen." he points at where the kitchen apparently is. "And the Cooks make the food for us to eat. Beside the Bloodhouse are the Gardens, the Track-Hoes work there.

"There is the Homestead. The Keepers, which are the people in charge of each job, have rooms in there. The Med-Jacks, our doctors, are in there, too," he informs.

The Homestead is basically a house, I'm surprised that it is in such great shape for a building with only teenage boys to take care of it.

"The Builders, which your brother is in charge of, build and repair anything we need. There are also Baggers, they guard the door and bury bodies, and Sloppers, they do the cleaning. Oh, and they're are Runners, they run the maze and map it out."

I simply nod while observing the concrete walls encompassing us.

_Wonder where the doors lead. I probably won't get an answer._

"We have three rules here in the Glade and here they are; never attack another Glader, do your part, and don't go out into the maze. We may add another rule that's don't mess with the girl. The final part of your tour will be in the morning, Newt will take you for that part. Any questions?"

I look at him in the eye. "Why greenie?"

Alby stares at me with a confused expression. "What?"

"Out of all the options to choose from, you guys go with _greenie_?"

Alby bursts into laughter. "Out of all the questions to ask, you ask about our word choice." he shakes his head in amusement. "Most greenbeans would ask about the maze."

"All these 'greenbeans' were boys, gender really makes the difference."

He just smiles. "I guess so."

When I look at the maze doors, people are running out of them. I catch a glimpse of black hair.

"I have one more question, who's the guy with perfect hair?" I inquire.

Alby sees who I'm looking at and doubles over in laughter. Tears streak down his face.

People look over at us as I stand with bewildered expression and Alby's struggling to gain composure.

When he gains his composure, he wipes his eyes and says, "I'm going to really like you."

"Thank you."

He glances at me and shakes his head. "It's about time for dinner, let's go."

We make our way to where they eat, there is a line with-you guessed it- boys. I stand by Alby, trying to ignore all the stares I'm getting. Alby notices my discomfort.

"Stop staring shanks!"

Immediately, everyone looks away.

I grab a plate and walk up to the cook, a tall African-American with some stubble.

"You must be the new girl everyone is talking about," he starts, "I'm Frypan."

"Hello, I'm Diana," I greet with a smile.

Frypan puts spaghetti and garlic bread on my plate.

"Thank you," I say.

"Your welcome, Diana." he smiles.

I look around for seat. Gally and Newt are waving at me to sit by them. I go over and plop down between them, Perfect Hair is sitting across from Newt and Alby sits down across from me.

"I've got to tell you guys about greenie's tour," Alby starts.

"Really? What'd she do?" Gally asks.

"She is the first greenie ever to ask no questions during the tour. And she only asked two questions at the end, neither had anything to do with the maze, the Creators, or any of the normal stuff."

"What'd she ask?"

"Why we called the new people greenie. Minho you'll want to listen to this one, she said, and I quote, 'Who's the guy with the perfect hair'," Alby tells them.

They all laugh hard.

"What? No one can have that perfect hair," I say defensively.

This just makes them laugh even harder.

When they don't stop after five minutes, I grab my plate and look around for a new seat. All the tables appear to be mostly full, except one that only has one little chubby kid with curly hair. I decide that he looks lonely is I'm going to sit with him.

I walk over to him. "Hello, I'm Diana. Can I sit here?"

He looks at me in surprise. "Here? You want to sit here with me?"

I nod my head. "I'd like to."

"Of course you can sit by me," he says enthusiastically.

I sit down beside him and he introduces himself, "My name is Chuck."

"Nice to meet you Chuck."

We chat and laugh the whole time I'm sitting there.

Some kid with black hair walks over to us. "Hey girl, you want come sit with us?"

"No thank you."

"You can't really enjoy sitting by Chunk."

"I quite enjoy sitting by him actually," I argue.

"But-"

"Keep your mouth closed, you lower the IQ of the whole Glade when you open it," I cut him off.

His jaw drops. All the boys start laughing at my insult.

The flustered egotistical idiot walks away back to his table in shame.

Chuck starts laughing even harder.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Chuck nods his head.

Alby, Newt, Minho, and Gally walk over to Chuck and I's table and sit down.

"Hey, you guys have to get up," I order.

"Why?" Minho asks.

"Because this is the cool kids table and you guys don't fit the bill. Except you, Alby, you can stay."

"Ha!" Alby boasts.

Gally makes a grab for my garlic bread. I embed my fork millimeters from his hand.

"Not today Satan," I say.

"Why am I Satan?" Gally asks.

"You have Satan's eyebrows."

The boys are set in another round of mirth. Except for Gally, he just scowls at me.

I stuff the garlic bread in my mouth and stand up to put my plate where everyone else was putting there's. I wander out of the 'cafeteria' and turn back to where Alby, Minho, Newt, Gally, and Chuck are standing behind me. "What else is happening tonight?"

"We're going to have a bonfire as a way to celebrate the greenbean, which happens to be you," Newt informs me.

I nod. Whelp. Looks like I have nothing to do until the bonfire.

* * *

"Hey Diana, try some of my special homemade drink," Gally offers, holding up a cup with some nasty looking liquid in it.

I take it from his hand and sniff it. My nose wrinkles at pungent scent.

"No thank you," I decline.

We started the bonfire party roughly fifteen minutes ago and most of the boys are already drunk.

_Idiots._

I just sit here, alone and on a log, watching the other boys fight. Gally kicks their butts, he's apparently the all time winner.

"Hey Diana!" I glance up and see Chuck calling to me from in the circle around my brother. "You should verse Gally!"

The boys hoot their agreement.

I shrug, standing up and making my way to the circle. The boys part like the Red Sea, making way for me. I position myself opposite from my brother.

"The rules are basic. Stay in the circle as longer than ten seconds and try to push your opponent out of the circle. You're going down, little sis," Gally claims.

"Whatever you say, brother."

Gally lunges forward. I get in a crouch, sticking my left leg out in front of Gally and my body away from him. He trips over my leg, thus landing him outside of the circle. The Gladers are silent for a moment before cheering loudly at my victory. I curtsy.

"I thought you were supposed to stay inside the circle for over ten seconds Gally?" I inquire cockily.

He grunts and mutters something as he gets up, dusting off his shirt and pants.

"Let's call it a night shanks," Alby yells then glances at me, "and shankette."

The boys go to their hammocks that are hanging in the trees, leaving Gally, Newt, Alby, Minho, and I.

"Where am I sleeping?" I ask, "I don't exactly trust the boys to not try anything."

They ponder this for a moment before Gally speaks up, "She can share a room with me."

Alby nods. "That'll do for now."

We make our way to the Homestead. I go into Gally's room where he throws a pillow and a few blankets at me.

"You can sleep on the floor."

"What if I wanted to sleep on the bed?"

"Well, you're not."

I sigh shaking my head before unceremoniously flopping on the floor. I put the pillow under my head and yank the covers on top of me, then I sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Diana's POV:**

"Greenbean, wake up."

"No," I reply pulling the covers over my eyes. I'm not a morning person.

"Diana, I need to show you something so you can either get up on your own or I can carry you."

I groan and sit up. I rub my eyes and come face to face with Newt. I turn to see Gally sprawled across his bed, snoring up a storm.

"Come on, Greenie."

I get up and follow Newt out of Gally's room. We exit the Homestead and make our way across the sea of sleeping Gladers, trying not to step on them. We make our way to a wooden door. Newt opens the door and I follow him up the stone stairs to a tower with a window. There's nothing outside of it.

"Give it a sec, it'll show up," Newt informs.

What will show up?

Before I can ask, a mechanical whirring is heard. I look out the window and see a partly mechanical and partly animal creature making its way towards us. I move closer to the window.

All of the sudden, the creature jumps towards us. Its body slaps against the structure before landing on the ground and scurrying away.

I turn towards Newt, he's looking at me in awe.

"You didn't flinch."

I bob my head, still confused.

"Everyone flinches, some people even faint. Yet, you didn't. Why?"

I shrug in response.

"Well, those monsters are called Grievers, they live in the maze," he informs me.

I nod in understanding.

"Let's get you to the showers before the other boys wake up."

I nod and follow Newt. While we're walking, we see Alby jogging towards us holding a sparkly blue backpack.

"We found this in the box. It's yours."

I take the bag from him and open it. There is mostly clothes and there are two pairs of shoes. There's also a bottle. I lift it up, it says 'One pill a month, stops the menstrual cycle'.

"Yes!" I cheer, pumping my fists.

"What?" Newt asks.

"You don't want to know," I tell him.

He shrugs and we depart from Alby, making our way to the showers.

"I'll wait out here to make sure no one goes in," Newt states.

I bob my head and walk into the bathroom. It has ten different shower stalls, ten toilet stalls, and twelve sinks parallel to the stalls.

I turn on the shower.

* * *

**Newt's POV:**

I slump against the door after Diana is inside.

Why does she have to be so bloody quiet? I want to get to know what's going on behind those sapphire eyes. She is stunning, you'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice that.

I'm jolted out of my thoughts by a beautiful voice singing.

"I pirouette in the dark  
I see the stars through me  
Tired mechanical heart  
Beats til the song disappears  
Somebody shine a light  
I'm frozen by the fear in me  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me  
So cut me from the line  
Dizzy, spinning endlessly  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!  
Shatter me!  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!"

The boys begin to wake up and make their way over to the bathhouse. They sit around it.

"If only the clockworks could speak  
I wouldn't be so alone  
We burn every magnet and spring  
And spiral into the unknown  
Somebody shine a light  
I'm frozen by the fear in me  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me  
So cut me from the line  
Dizzy, spinning endlessly  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!  
Shatter me!  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!"

Everyone is now seated as close as they can to hear Diana's singing.

"If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly  
There's no one to catch me if I take a dive  
I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same  
The world is spinning but only in gray  
If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly  
There's no one to catch me if I take a dive  
I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same  
The world is spinning but only in gray  
(Only)  
Somebody shine a light  
I'm frozen by the fear in me  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me  
So cut me from the line  
Dizzy, spinning endlessly  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!  
Shatter me!  
Somebody make me feel alive  
And shatter me!"

"Wow," Alby murmurs.

"Yeah," Minho responds.

Looks like living with a girl won't be too bad.

* * *

**Alby's POV:**

I didn't know what I was expecting when we got a girl but it definitely wasn't Diana. I thought she'd be a shucking pain in the butt. I guess not all girls care about makeup, clothes, and other stuff girls like.

Diana walks out of the bathhouse with the towel wrapped around her dirty blonde hair and her bag slung over her shoulder. Her sapphire eyes widen at the sight of all the Gladers staring at her.

"Um… hello?" she says, uncertain.

Everyone starts greeting her. I walk over to her sling my around her shoulders.

"Mornin', shankette," I greet.

"Morning," she pauses, "shuckface."

We laugh at her use of our curses. She smiles and I have all the air knocked out of me. How can someone have that pretty of a smile?

"Come on shanks! It's time for breakfast!" Newt yells.

The crowd makes its way to the eating area and we get in line for food.

* * *

**Diana's POV:**

"She didn't even flinch when the Griever jumped at the window! And she was right in front of the window!" Newt retells my morning escapade, "I'm telling you guys, she's one hardcore girl."

The boys at our table murmur their agreement looking at me in awe.

"It's not that big of a deal," I tell them, blushing under their gazes.

"Yes, it is," Newt counters.

I shake my head and eat my eggs and bacon. Minho, who's sitting to my left, attempts to steal my bacon. I slap his hand away from my food.

"Oh! That hurt!" Minho exclaims, rubbing his hand.

I glare at him. "Don't touch my food, shuckface."

I shove the rest of bacon into my mouth and stand up to put my plate away. I walk back to my seat and between Chuck and Minho.

"What's her first job, Alby?" Chuck inquires.

"Like everyone else's, Slicer," the leader replies, eating the last of his egg.

A kid with bad acne I've come to know as Winston speaks up, "You're stuck with me today, greenie."

"Do I start my job after breakfast?" I ask, meeting Alby's dark brown eyes.

"Yes. Winston can take you to the Bloodhouse."

I nod and look into the kitchen. I meet Frypan's eyes and he gives me a lopsided grin. I smile back at him.

"When will I be helping out in the kitchen?"

"In a few days, why?"

"Frypan's nice," I reply.

They get quiet.

Winston stands up, plate in hand. "Time for you to find out what it's like to be a Slicer, greenbean."

* * *

**Newt's POV:**

"Greenie, quit hugging the pigs!"

I look up from my tomato picking and see Diana hugging a pig while Winston is yelling at her. I grin at her antics.

"You can't make me!" she shouts, "You can't have Eugene!"

She sprints away carrying the pig away in her arms. Winston chases after her, but she's bloody fast. Diana could give Minho a run for his money.

She runs into the Homestead, Winston following behind. I see a window open on the second floor. Diana's standing on the window ledge with 'Eugene' tucked under her arm. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she jumps off the ledge and into the branches of a nearby tree.

Winston's head peeks out the window as Diana scrambles down the tree and sprints off.

"Shuck it, Greenie. You've got some skills." Winston shakes his head. "Keep the pig."

Diana starts cheering, lifting her new pet into the air while dancing around.

Her victory is short lived by a fuming Alby stomping towards her.

* * *

**Alby's POV:**

"What were you thinking?!" I shout.

She jumps off a window ledge on the second floor and doesn't think she could get hurt! She could've got seriously injured or died!

"To quote, 'You have to save Eugene'," she replies in her quiet, angelic voice.

"You could have got hurt!"

"But I didn't," she counters.

I let out an exasperated sigh. What happened to the shy girl that came out of the box?

"It most likely won't happen again," she assures.

"If it happens again, you're going into the Slammer for two days with only bread as your meals," I lie.

She nods and the pig squeals.

"Why did you even grab the pig?"

Diana's eyes narrow. "His name is Eugene and he doesn't deserve to die."

I shake my head.

"I won't argue or cause issues, just let me keep Eugene."

I look into her eyes. She actually wants the pig.

I concede, "You can keep the pig." she cheers. "But only if you don't cause trouble."

A breathtaking smile spreads across her face. She sets 'Eugene' down and envelopes me in a hug.

"Thank you, Alby. I won't make you regret it," she whispers.

Diana lets go and picks up her pig that sits on the ground.

"GALLY! I GOT A PET PIG!" she screams to her brother.


	4. Chapter 4

**Minho's POV:**

I slow down as I cross through the entry and into the Glade. I inhale deeply while I bend over slightly from exhaustion.

"DIANA GIVE WINSTON BACK THE PIG NOW!" Gally's angry voice shouts.

"But he said I could keep it!"

I let curiosity get the better of me and I jog to the circle of amused Gladers as they watch the siblings argue.

"You can't just keep the pig," Gally states, "How are you going to feed him? Where are you going to keep him?"

Frypan answers before Diana can. "I can give him scraps from the kitchen."

Diana gives him a beautiful smile that takes my breath away. It also sparks jealousy, Frypan doesn't deserve that smile.

"See, one problem solved."

"And what about the other?"

She ponders this with an adorable expression before replying, "Eugene can just stay in my room."

Eugene? She named the pig _Eugene_?! Out of all things she could choose from.

Clearly Gally was having the same thoughts. " _Eugene_?! You gave the _pig_ a _name_?!

"Obviously," she responds, rolling her eyes, "I couldn't just be like 'hey, pig, get over here'. Then they wouldn't know if I was talking to Eugene or you."

The sends the crowd into laughter, except Gally who lets out a huff and crosses his arms over his chest. "That isn't helping your case."

Diana just gives him a closed eye smile before picking up Eugene and walking away.

"This conversation isn't over!"

She just waves her hand and continues her path to wherever she's going.

* * *

**Newt's POV:**

"Where'd she go?" Alby mutters, a twig snapping under his foot as we search for are lost girl.

We've got the whole Glade searching for her, but we have yet to actually find her.

Where could she have gone? Gally was for sure that she'd never go into the maze and the Glade isn't that big.

"I know you guys like Diana," Gally announces, not bothering to look at them.

Minho, Alby, and I freeze. Was it really that obvious? Wait, they like her too?!

"I don't really care if you shanks see her, as long as she cares about you back," Gally continues, ignoring our expressions, "She's not here, I'm going to go check elsewhere."

Gally turns and begins to walk away, leaving us to stare at his green shirt clad back. "Also, if you break her heart, well, you'll wish you were in the maze for a night instead, Diana was always one to support an eye for an eye."

Eye for an eye? So Diana believes if we hurt her, she gets to hurt us back. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

"Well _that_ was interesting," Minho states, trying to lighten the mood but ultimately failing.

I turn to Alby. " _You_ like her."

Alby shifts his weight to his heels. "Possibly."

I open my mouth to reply, but I'm cut off by angelic laughter.

We begin to walk quickly, following the ringing until we come to the kitchen. Alby opens the door and we see our lost shankette sitting on the counter with Frypan's face centimeters from hers.


	5. Chapter 5

Diana's POV:

Stupid Gally. Why can't I keep Eugene? I'm already attached and how can Gally resist something so adorable? Eugene is the cutest pig to ever exist; he could hold the Glade record for it. Gally and his stupid face are causing me problems; I'm obviously the superior out of the both of us, considering the fact I can actually feel emotions, unlike his psychopathic butt.

My wandering takes me to the kitchen. My stomach rumbles, causing Eugene to release a fearful sound- the poor guy- and I walk in, acknowledging the delicious smells that waft from the meal preparations.

Frypan stands quietly near the stove, intently cooking whatever's for dinner. I walk over to him and jump up to sit on the wooden counter then setting Eugene haphazardly on the counter beside me. "What's up?"

He looks up from his work and gives me a toothy grin, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "Just making some dinner using my fabulous cooking skills, per usual I might add."

I snort. He's honestly not that great that of a cook, despite how good his food smells. My taste buds can vouch for that much. "I've had better." I pause. "I think."

There's an amused glint in his eyes. "Brutally honest as always. It hurts my feelings oh so much."

I shrug, patting Eugene on the head and he oinks. I like to think it's an oink of happiness, but based on our twenty minute relationship, I highly doubt he's enjoying my presence or my actions. Oh well.

"Did you bring him here for me to cook him?"

My snaps towards the shucking cook. " _Heck no_."

Frypan raises his hand in surrender, but with clear amusement in his eyes . "I'm kidding, chill you vicious blonde."

"Don't threaten my pet, shuckface. I bite."

"I love to hear it," he states, sending a wink my way.

Gagging aggressively, I scoot away from him. "Yuck. Ew. Nasty."

He shakes his head at me. "I'm kidding, that seems more up Winston's alley than mine." Frypan stirs the pot that was simmering on the stove, keeping the stew from boiling over or burning.

"Well, that makes me dislike that sadistic psychopath more than I had previously," I state, shuddering at the thought of being within two feet of the butcher. Bleh. Winston's gross.

"Someone needs to do the job. Every person has an essential job here and Winston's just happens to be butchering the animals, I doubt you would like to be doing that job." He checks the rolls he had in the oven before walking over to the icebox and pulling out a large amount of bread dough and grabbing a package of flour.

"Obviously, we've proven I lack an iron stomach or psychotic tendencies, so I'm definitely not becoming a butcher anytime soon." I watch as Frypan sprinkles flour all over the counter and begins to roll out the dough, preparing the next batch of rolls. "Can't I just become a cook like you and skip all this tomfoolery? I don't think there's another job for me. All the other ones seem boring or not my type."

He rolls his eyes and states exasperatedly, "Everyone has to go through the process. It doesn't matter that you're a girl or that Gally's your brother, you have to do the same as everyone else. We can't favor you or it'll unbalance everything we've worked hard to maintain, no matter how much you dislike it."

I let out a long groan. He's obviously right, nepotism and sexism wouldn't go great in this situation and I know it, but that doesn't make me feel better about the next few days. "Yeah, yeah. I'll suffer for the sake of the Glade and not have an uprising. Blah, blah, blah."

He snickers and flicks his flour covered fingers at me, successfully getting the white dust all over my face.

I sputter and glare at him accusingly, attempting to wipe the flour off my face, but instead rubbing it into my eyes- like a fool. "Shuckface, I'm gonna go blind because of you. Then i'm gonna blind you back, using something similar to a rock."

Snorting, he looks at me. "Yeah right, you're not going blind, greenie."

I mutter more colorful curses, ignoring his amusement, and keep trying to get the flour out of my eyes. Flour's stupid, I'm never eating anything with flour or going anywhere near it ever again.

"Here, let me help." He comes closer and leans close to my face in an attempt to get a better view of the cursed dust he infected my eye with.

The door to the kitchen bursts open and I hear an aggressive voice growl, "What the _shuck_ is happening here?"


	6. Chapter 6

Alby's POV:

"Well, this is awfully inconvenient," Frypan deadpans, not moving away from Diana's face.

Inconvenient? His face is _right_ next to hers. He could kiss her! However, that is most definitely not allowed, I'll make up some rules about it later on.

"What the _shuck_ is going on here?" Gally growls lowly, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes as he observes the exact predicament that Frypan has found himself in. I'm glad we're on the same page when it goes to Frypan's future, which will be nonexistent if he doesn't explain himself within the next thirty seconds.

"Now, hold up." The cook leans away from the girl and turns fully to us. "She has found herself tragically blinded by flour, which magically made it into her eyes, and she needed assistance getting it out. Don't get yer boxers in a twist now, I was just helping her out. No need to be a shank."

I'm not the shank here. I'm not the one that was invading someone's personal privacy.

"Wait, how'd she get flour in her eyes if she's nowhere near the flour?"

Now _that_ makes him shift uncomfortable. "Well, ya see, we were just having some fun and then the flour went all _whoosh_ and then it was on her face." He shrugs after that statement, as if he's trying to remove the tension and eyes off of him.

"Yeah right, shankface," Diana sputters, some wet flour coming out of her mouth- gross- before bellowing dramatically, "You blatantly flicked that flour at my face, an attack on my appearance and my person! You should be ashamed of your violent and harmful actions!"

So she isn't hurt, just indignant and covered in flour, I can deal with that. "Alright, go ahead to the showers and wash off your face and make sure to get the flour out of your eyes and hair. After that, you'll be going back to help Winston." She lets out a loud groan. "Don't give me any of that greenie, you're not getting special treatment, you need to follow the rules too. You will be a slicer today, and most likely it will be your last day, however, if you don't go back, I'll make you do it tomorrow too."

Now that doesn't make her happy. A pang of guilt goes through me, however, it's the right thing to do as leader, favoritism would cause more problems in the long run than making her do this simple- but disgusting- job for the next few hours. This system we've built is based on respect, trust, and justice, we've had these rules since the beginning and we can't suddenly change them because of one person, it would cause a rebellion, which I most definitely do _not_ want to happen anytime soon.

"Alright, I get it," she states begrudgingly. I breathe easy knowing she won't fight it, I wasn't sure just how strong-willed or stubborn she is.

"Newt will take you to the showers and he'll make sure you actually get to where you're supposed to, instead of running off like you did last time."

Newt nods at me, looking somewhat surprised at my order before he turns to Diana. "Come on, greenie, let's go. Grab Eugene, we'll find a place to keep him while you work, since I doubt you'll want him washing up with you or anywhere near the slaughterhouse."

"Alrighty, non-greenman." She hops off the counter and tucks the pig under her arm and uses her other hand to salute the cook. "Bye bye, Frypan! See ya later, you shankfaced fool!"

Diana wanders out the door with all the confidence of someone who was born and raised in the Glade, with Newt following behind her and Frypan and Gally gazing at her with the most exasperated expression I've seen in a long time. Whelp, I'm glad the feeling's felt by someone other than me.


	7. Chapter 7

Diana's POV:

"Meanie leader-man Alby, makin' me do stupid stuff like slaughtering innocent animals," I mutter under my breath as I follow Newt out of the kitchen.

I mean, I understand Alby's reasons, but that doesn't mean I appreciate his actions. I would hate to be the reason for all the discourse, plus that would bring even more attention to me- and not in a positive way. Too many guys are looking at me in, ahem, sketchy ways and I'd rather not have them looking at me in murderous ways too.

"Come on, greenie. Let's get you to the showers after we drop off that pig of yours, you have flour all over yourself. Quite the mess," Newt assesses is his posh accent.

"Yeah, yeah. Blame Frypan and his attacks, you should throw him in jail."

He chuckles. "We don't have a jail per se, but we have the Slammer, and we do punish people by throwing them there for a night or two."

The Slammer. How dramatic. Pretty boy, I mean, Minho, was definitely the one that came up with it, considering how much of a drama queen that kid is.

We walk in silence to Gally's room, dropping off the still terrified Eugene. I don't completely understand why we're keeping him in the room, especially considering the fact he's not litter trained or anywhere near able to control himself alone in a room; he's definitely going to mess up something and I'm going to get in trouble. I'm not sure where else we would keep him, maybe Gally'll build some kind of enclosure for Eugene? I'll have to bribe him probably.

"Go on in, greenie. I'm assuming you just need to wash your hair and face, so you shouldn't take that long."

I'll take as long as I please, you British buffoon, I think extra aggressively, hoping the brain waves hit him right in the face. Or maybe not, I'm too salty to actually debate the merits of being aggressive and petty.

I settle on just nodding at him and I make my way into the bathroom. Turning on the nearest shower, I begin to rinse the water through my hair.

White, soggy clumps of flour flops onto the grimey floor of the stall. Yuck.

Newt's POV:

That greenie's really something else. She's ornery and bullheaded, reminds of a certain builder. I will admit that she's better looking than him though, however, I will say that that was a pretty low bar to begin with. Diana does have eyebrows that aren't about to fly off.

I'm not the only one that's noticed either, while I just think she's cute compared to the other unhygienic shanks in the Glade, more than a few are quite smitten with her. Notably Alby and Minho, who have made it quite clear that they find her attractive.

Alby's little bout of jealousy in the kitchen was out of character compared to his usual stoicness and calm exterior. I'm pretty sure it's a temporary thing, but it's much too early to tell. Same with Minho, he's clearly attracted to her, but none of us have seen a female- that we can remember- in years. I doubt we'd be less attracted if she had horns or wings. A female is a female, it's not like we have anyone to compare her to anyway.

"Oi, Newt."

I turn to see Minho jogging over to me. Speak of the devil.

"Is Diana in there?"

"Yup, she's washing flour out of her and off of her face."

He gives me a quizzical look, but doesn't push the subject. "Is the pig with her? Or did Alby make her give it back to Winston?"

"Neither actually," I reply as he gazes past me towards the bathroom, "She's currently keeping it in her and Gally's room. I'm not exactly sure what the long term solution is going to be, but they'll either figure it out or Gally will find some way to get rid of it."

An angry and unmistakably feminine voice rings out from behind me. "He better not hurt Eugene in any way or he'll have to match his back for the next year. I can make his experience here even more unpleasant and painful than being stuck in a shucking maze already is."

I look behind me to see her face scrunched up cutely in an angry expression. "Sure, greenie. You look as deadly as that pig of yours."

Her eyes narrow on me before shaking her head. "I am a very scary person, I will have you know. Fear me, you British fool."

Minho lets out a snort, which he had clearly attempted to stifle. What a shuckface.

"Ya see, dear greenie, you're too cute and tiny for me to feel any fear." My smile widens as her cheeks puff up in an adorable fashion and she crosses her arms. "And you haven't done anything to make me fear you. All you've done is stolen a pig and run from the Slaughterhouse since you dislike blood."

"I can tolerate blood, what do you think I do for one whole week of a month?"

She's changing the subject. And it's working too 'cause Minho and I both shift uncomfortably at the reminder. I did kinda walk straight into it, I need to be more careful about it.

She continues on, ignoring our shifts in mood, "I just don't like the fact I'm the one doing the killing. I have a soul and care about animals, so I dislike the idea of murdering them."

"Um, we need to go to Slaughterhouse, you have work you need to do and Alby will get mad if you don't complete the job."

She lets out a disappointed sigh, but makes her way to her destination. "See ya later, kiddos. I'm off to suffer once again."

Minho lets out a chuckle before facing me. "She's a funny thing, I like her."


	8. Chapter 8

Diana's POV:

Now, don't get me wrong, I love eating meat. Well, at least I think I do, I haven't had much experience with it since I got here, but I'm like ninety-five percent sure I really liked it. However, I don't like being involved in the slaughtering of animals, I prefer to see them when I'm about to eat them or alive and happy and absolutely nowhere in between. It makes me want to give up meat, which isn't really an option here with the limited food sources.

I still had miniscule clumps of flour on my face, mostly stuck between my eyelashes, which wasn't enjoyable in any way and not really something that I could keep trying to fix. It would make it seem like I was trying to get out of being a Slicer for the day and Alby did say that he would force me to do it tomorrow if I proved to not have learned anything from the experience.

Luckily, Winston, whom I'm in love with currently, told me I did not have to kill any animals, I could just feed them and avoid the actual Slicers so as not to distract them. Apparently I'm distracting? Huh, who knew. Kinda wacky when ya think about it.

I throw out chicken feed to the hens. They screech at me as they race to see who can get to the food first. They're cute with their pillowy feathers and overall poof. Not as cute as Eugene though, he's much cuter than any stupid chicken.

The boys were acting weird today. I don't know exactly what the whole deal with Alby was, but I could tell something was up based on the other guys's reactions to his demeanor. Granted, I've only known him for one day, but something was off. Alby seemed like a chill person, not hotheaded or anything.

Then there was Newt, he was acting much different yesterday. I could feel his annoyance and hear the passive aggressiveness in his tone when he spoke to Frypan. Shuck, he hadn't been rude to anyone else that I've seen and there wasn't anyone that absolutely hated him.

The rest of the boys seemed to be a bit off, but Newt and Alby were notable ones. I wonder what's happening with them, maybe I'll ask at dinner tonight and see if I can get a straight answer.

I put the chicken feed away and grab the pig feed. I dump it and the pigs absolutely race for the food, snorting and oinking the entire time.

Does Eugene have any siblings? I would assume he does, but I sure hope he doesn't. Maybe I'll just not eat pork instead, zero risk that way.

I know subconsciously that I'm purposely avoiding any thoughts of the males here, it'll make things easier as time goes on. I can't become attracted to any of them, it'll cause a plethora of issues that could tear the Glade apart. I'm the only girl and there are sixty plus guys and I don't want to deal with all of them.

It's safer long term to avoid any feelings until we make it out of this hellhole.


	9. Chapter 9

Diana's POV:

After finishing up at the Slaughterhouse, I skipped dinner and just went straight to bed. It was a long day and I was completely worn out and just wanted to get a good night's rest. Who knew that living in a maze with a bunch of hormonal teenage boys and surrounded by murderous creatures would be so stressful? Not me!

Suddenly, a white pillow hits me square in the face. "Hey!"

"Up and at it, shuckface! You're a builder for the day. And I like my workers to be at the site on time, which I know you won't be unless someone makes sure you're awake and moving."

I huff with indignation. "That doesn't mean you need to throw a shucking pillow at my face! I was already clearly awake! All you needed to say was 'hey, Diana, it's time to go to work now, you don't have a choice and won't enjoy it, but it's time to go'."

He snickers at that before snatching another pillow off of his bead and throwing it straight at me. Thankfully, my quick reflexes save my life and I dodge the deadly, flying projectile.

"Shoo! Out of the room, shuckface! I need to change before we head out and I'm not doing it if you're in here."

He nods his head, still smirking from hitting me in the head as he walks out of the room. Closing the door behind him to ensure I have privacy. I wait only a second before completely changing my clothes. I wonder if I'll have to specifically wash my clothes since I'm a girl. I mean, I probably will if I don't want to risk my clothes being stolen or…

I shudder at the thought of my poor clothing being violated by some homally unstable teenage boy. Guess that answers my question about washing the clothes.

As soon as I'm done and in a new set of clothes, I open the door to leave, and immediately run smack dab into Gally's back. "Ow! Why were you standing so close to the door!"

"To make sure none of those creepy perverts show up and try to peep on you."

I mumble under my breath, I want him to continue ensuring that no one peeps so I should probably watch my mouth when it comes to critiquing Gally's protection strategies.

"Well, I'm ready to go, time to learn how to be a builder!" I squirm past him and start walking towards the direction of the stairs. The quicker I learn to be a builder, the more likely I'll get that to be my job, assuming Frypan doesn't let me become a cook.

* * *

I. Hate. Building.

It's been only an hour and I'm already soaked in sweat, and when I say soaked, I mean _soaked_. The light brown tee I put on this morning is now a dark, muddy brown from all the sweat. Salt has crystallized on my arms from the sheer amount of perspiration. My hair is now matted and drenched, sticking to my sweating neck and shirt. I need a long, cold shower and an indoor job.

I wasn't expecting it to be _this_ bad. I'm absolutely miserable. I thought maybe I would have some building genes or something but apparently it's only on the Y chromosome. I was also hoping to do the planning out part, math isn't too bad, to my current knowledge at least. I haven't actually done math in the past two days so I'm not sure, but I don't get any bad vibes from it.

"Gally, I hate building."

He looks up from where he was hammering a nail into a piece of plywood, snorting at my distress. "Oh do ya now?"

He's barely sweating, the edges of his tee and hair are slightly sweaty, but otherwise, he looks how he did when he woke up. While I'm over here, smelling like a pile of week old socks and looking like I just pulled myself out of a river.

"Yes, I do hate it, I'm miserable. It wasn't supposed to be this hard or demanding," I complain, letting my voice go up an octave, something I knew for a fact would annoy him. "Why can't I just work with Frypan. It's something I'm good at and it solves all the issues. I'm garbage at cleaning, building, and slicing, which covers everything else."

"Well, you don't exactly have a choice, you're a greenie," a deep voice interrupts behind me.

I tense and turn, it's Alby. His eyebrows are raised at my current state. "Did you dump a bucket of water on yourself?"

I scowl at him. "No, I happened to be doing harsh, manual labor that has been both physically and emotionally demanding. And boy do I regret it."

He chuckles at that, a cute half smile appearing on his face. Wait, no, _not_ cute. It's Alby, can't think that.

"Ya see, Alby, I'm not very good at any of the jobs given to me so far. But I know for a fact I'd be fantastic at being a cook."

"Oh really? So, you can remember being a good cook?"

"Err, technically no, but I _feel_ like I would be great at it. Just throw some ingredients in a pot and you're good to go. Don't see why it would be a big deal or complicated. It's not like I'm going to be making some kind of fancy schmancy dish."

"So, you're just assuming you'll be good at it despite having no idea?" he eyes me, giving me a look that tells me he doesn't believe a word I said. "Yeah, well, you're going to go through the same process as every other greenie. We need to figure out if you have some kind of special talent, and we can't do that by limiting it to one job you could be horrible at."

"Alby," Gally pipes up, getting the leader's attention, "you can take her to the job she's supposed to do tomorrow, she's absolute shuck at building.


	10. Chapter 10

Alby's POV:

I don't need Gally's input; it's unwanted and it undermines my purpose of asserting that I'm the one who's in charge. I can't have her getting special privileges simply because she's a girl, or else the other Gladers will start to protest against it or think I've gone weak. She's on the same level as every other person here.

"Diana will finish out her day here, it's not fair to all the other greenies who had to go through every job. We've had this talk a solid three times already."

She lets out a noise of displeasure, but she clearly understands that she's on thin ice here and that I can only be pushed so far. She must also be remembering the other times, which ended with me making her doing exactly what she complained about having to do.

"Yeah, yeah. But don't be surprised when the work is done crappily," Diana states, disgruntled and waving her pointer finger at me aggressively. I think it was supposed to intimidate, but in reality she just looked like a really angry toddler.

I suppress a smile. "Just listen to Gally finish all the tasks he gives you. You would rather have him as your boss than Winston, right?"

Her nose scrunches up and I know she won't try to get out of the job. Diana doesn't have very many options of where she can work, considering there are a few Keepers that have very strong opinions on where those of the opposite gender should be. Billy made it incredibly clear that he didn't want Diana anywhere near him or as a Bagger.

"Get back to work, greenie. I can't babysit you all day and if you keep standing around I'll make you build again tomorrow."

As the leader, I need to take charge and make sure every Glader is doing their job, I won't be treating anyone like a special case.

"Hey! Alby!"

I turn, it's Newt and he's running at me fast he can, his face bright red from the exertion. "What's wrong?"

"A fight broke out between Winston and one of the other shucks that works in the Slaughterhouse."

I curse under my breath. "Gally, come with me _now_."

Taking off in the direction of the fight, I hear Gally tell Diana to stay behind and follow my lead. What could those idiots be disagreeing about bad enough that they feel the need to physically resolve it?

A huddle of bodies comes into sight; a loud cacophony of jeering comes from the bystanders that formed a circle near the Slaughterhouse.

I shove my way through the bodies. "Out of my way! Now!"

The crowd parts, making enough room for Gally and I to get to the center where two boys are wrestling.

"Grab Winston!" I order Gally, before grabbing the brunet that's currently scratching the Slaughterhouse Keeper's arms, yanking him off and restraining his arms behind his back.

The kid won't stop trying to get out of my hold, and I am _not_ having it. "You will _shucking_ cool it or you will be spending a week in the slammer with only a slice of bread and a cup of water each day," I command the wriggling boy in front of me.

He freezes, slumping slightly. Good. I turn and toss him towards the crowd of boys. "You will _stay_ there until I decide what to do with you, and if I see you trying to escape or fight Winston again, I will make you _regret_ it."

He shakily nods his head looking terrified of what my threatening undertone and the promise of what will happen if he dares to disobey.

I look to where Gally holds Winston in a headlock, trying to calm him down. It's clearly failing considering the murderous rage that's in Winston's eyes. He says something to Gally under his breath; I can't hear it, but it causes Gally's eyes to go to horrified, then to rage.

Gally drops Winston and sprints over to the brunet I just untangled from Winston. Pulling back a large, calloused fist, Gally punches him in the face and his jaw breaks with a sickening _crack_.


	11. Chapter 11

Alby's POV:

"Gally! Stop!" I shout. Why the hell would he start attacking that kid?

Winston soon joined in on the attack, restraining the kid as Gally proceeded to beat the absolute _shuck_ out of the kid.

"What's going on here?"

I turn and see Minho behind me, looking extremely confused by the whole ordeal in front of me. "Minho, go restrain Winston. I'll get Gally."

He nods, sprinting off and slide tackles Winston. This causes the Slicer to lose his grip on the kid getting beat up and go tumbling to the side as Minho roles with him in his grasp.

I snatch Gally, holding his arms to his sides. "What's gotten into you?! You were supposed to help me stop the fight, not get into a new one!"

"He was talking about how he planned to hurt, Diana," Gally growls, eyes still flashing with anger, "And he wasn't talking about just beating her up. He said he was going to _mess around_ with her."

Well, now I understand exactly why he was absolutely pummeling the kid. I want to too, now that I know why they were reacting that way. I can't imagine how much worse it is for Gally, considering that girl is his sister. That kid's disgusting.

"He will be punished and I will make it very clear that anyone who touches her in a way she doesn't consent to will regret even _thinking_ about doing it," I forcefully state, putting as much truth behind my words as I possibly can. I planned to do just as I said, guaranteeing that no one would dare attempt to go anywhere near Diana and cause harm.

More people have gathered around the now broken up fight. "Hey, you two," I shout, looking directly at two builders. "Come here and escort Winston, Gally, and that kid to the Slammer with Minho."

I then lean close to Gally's ear and speak in a low voice, "You and Winston will spend the rest of the day and overnight in the Slammer, then I'll release both of you in time for breakfast. The kid, however, will stay there for the next five days to set an example for what happens when you threaten to harm one of your fellow Gladers."

Gally's face is stoic, but he nods begrudgingly. He probably realizes he doesn't really have a choice in the matter and if he tries to publicly disagree with my orders more than he already has, then he'll end up having a much worse punishment.

I'll plan to have an announcement at dinner about the whole ordeal. I made the rule you can't attack another Glader, but in this case it was in an attempt to defend another. I can't make excuses or pick favorites, but we've also never had a girl in the maze and the rules hadn't really planned for someone other than a teenage boy to show up.

I have to be as impartial as possible, I'll discuss the best course of action with other Keepers and make an executive decision. In the meantime, I need to get rid of this crowd.

"Nothing to see here! Get back to your jobs! We don't have all day for you to stand around and shuck off!" I yell, leaving no room for any form of argument.

The crowd quickly disperse, no one lingers surprisingly. I must have looked irritated enough that they realized it wasn't best to stick around if I'm in some kind of mood.

However, there is one person that approaches me. Diana comes up next to me, looking concerned at Gally being escorted to the Slammer. Poor thing doesn't know she's the reason the fight happened, not that she's really to blame for the actions of the worthless shank.

"What happened, Alby? Why are they taking Gally to that cell thing?"

I tense a little bit, I really don't want to be the one to tell her why, but someone has to and it's better it comes from than one of the Slicers that overheard the conversation. "Well, Diana, one of the Slicers was talking about some, er, _plans_ he had that he involved you."

"What do you mean by 'plans'?"

"Uhh, I mean that he planned to _mess_ with you." I really didn't want to say the word.

A lightbulb clearly goes off and her eyes widen in horror and disgust. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Um, this isn't the kind of thing I like to joke about."

She goes quiet for a minute. "Can I sleep in your room until Gally gets out of jail?"

Wait, what? What kind of question was that and where did she think of asking that.

"I guess? Also, it's not _actually_ jail." Good job, Alby. Way to deflect that answer by changing the subject to technicalities. Really thinking hard.

"Yes, it is technically jail because you're keeping people there as punishment, it even has a cell for the purpose of keeping people to make sure they don't break your laws. Also, are you sure you're ok with me staying in your room? I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but also Gally's door doesn't have a lock on it."

"Yeah, that's fine." Smooth Alby, real smooth.

I'm not agreeing to her sleeping in my room because she's cute, I'm agreeing because I need to ensure her safety as the leader of the Gladers and I take the safety of others very seriously. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

"Alright, thank you." she gives a beaming smile.

Yup, totally not doing it 'cause she's shucking adorable. Definitely doing solely for moral and heroic leadership reasons.

"Also, where am I supposed to go for the rest of the day if Gally is stuck in jail?"

She has a point. I'll just send her over to Frypan since she worked with for a little bit yesterday. "Head over to Frypan's, you can get done training over there and then you won't have to train for that on another day."

"Awesome! Thanks, Alby!" she immediately takes off towards the kitchen.

Jeez, she seems almost _too_ happy to see the cook.


	12. Chapter 12

Minho's POV:

"Hush, Gally. I get it, he was making unnecessary and unacceptable comments towards Diana, but you still shouldn't have joined the attack. Winston already got some good hits in," I state, attempting to rationalize with the still raging builder.

He didn't need to attack that kid, despite the integrity at stake. It was practically unnecessary and only got him in trouble.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't regret doing it and if he tries anything, I'll do it again," he states loudly, emphasizing his last words and making eye contact with the boy who started this whole mess.

The kid's face turns white as a sheet as he processes the threat in Gally's words. A slight shake and a stumble in his walk makes it clear that he understands exactly what Gally will do if he has the opportunity.

Thinking 'what would Alby do?', I do exactly what Alby would do. I slap the back of his head as hard as I can without injuring him. "Knock it off, shuckface. You don't want to be in the Slammer longer than you need to be," I state, deepening my voice to sound more like the Glade's Leader.

"What was that for!" the builder exclaims, gripping the back of his head. "That _hurt_ , you shucking shank!"

"That was the point, now stop trying to intimidate the brat and get into your cell," I order, still doing my Alby voice as I open the door to Gally's new cell.

He rolls his eyes at me, but remains silent as he walks into the metal enclosure. I shut the door behind him and lock it. The same being done to the kid, who is put in the cell right next to Gally. Well, at least I know they're going to have some interesting conversations that will result in the kid never even _thinking_ about Diana again.

"See ya angry and disrespectful shucks sometime this evening! Heard Frypan's making _gruel_ to teach people a lesson about authority."

They both shudder. When Frypan makes gruel, he makes a pasty and slightly congealed gruel that makes you wonder what exactly you just put in your mouth. He says that if you have to eat gruel, he's going to make you suffer while you do it. Respect for him, but that's absolutely disgusting.

To be honest, I have no idea what Frypan is making for them. However, I'll be able to float the recommendation by him, just to make sure Gally specifically won't try something like this again. I'm doing this out of love, obviously.

Walking out of the Slammer, I let out a little grin at my lie. It was kinda mean of me to do that, but I do _not_ regret it and I'll probably do it again tomorrow just for fun. Dang, I'm turning into an evil mastermind. I always thought Gally would be the evil one, considering those crooked eyebrows of his. _Very_ evil looking if you ask me.

Moving on from Gilly's malicious looking eyebrows, I need to find Alby and Newt. I have to tell them about my recent discovery in the Maze. Also, I think Alby needs to figure out a long term solution to the whole deal with Diana and Gally. Neither are going to be easy to solve.

I see Alby standing alone out of the corner of my eye. He's staring with an unreadable expression at Diana's figure that is racing off. Wonder what's the deal there.

"Hey, Alby!" I shout, giving him a moment to adjust before I'm next to him.

His expression alters into something more relaxed and hides whatever he was feeling just moments ago. "We need to discuss what just happened and how we're going to handle threats to Diana. I'll grab Newt, meet me in the Map Room."

I nod in acknowledgement before walking towards the Map Room, leaving him to go find Newt.

I wonder what we're going to do about Diana. We can't really blame the guys for reacting, considering we're all seeing a girl for the first time in years. At the same time, she deserves to not have to be looking over her shoulder every second of the day or treated as less than all the other Gladers.

Then that brings up relationships. It would be the easiest to just say no one can date her or be in any kind of romantic relationship with her. But that's not what we're supposed to be doing, we shouldn't be hindering her freedom. Also, she's cute and I'm kinda interested, who can blame me?

I open the heavy wooden door to the Map Room. It's pitch black. Feeling around for the switch, my hand comes into contact with a blunt piece of cool plastic. Found it.

I flip the switch and light floods the room.

My eyes widen in horror as I gaze rapidly around the room. "Oh _shuck_."


	13. Chapter 13

Alby's POV:

Newt's rather easy to find; he was hoeing at the garden. Apparently, he decided to move on from the ruckus caused by WInston and Gally. Not really that surprising, of course the shank would leave everything to me to fix.

"Newt," I state, getting his attention, "We need to set some official ground rules surrounding Diana, before another incident occurs. We've been avoiding it for long enough and now we're forced to deal with it."

He takes a tan hand and wipes some sweat off of his forehead as his face turns thoughtful. "Yeah, but how are we going to get a bunch of teenage boys to understand that if the one girl in the Glade doesn't want to date them, then she doesn't have to have any sort of relationship with them?"

I shrug. "Threats, probably. I'm not having her wellbeing or life endangered because they don't have two brain cells."

Newt opens his mouth to say something, but he's interrupted by a loud and panicked voice. "Alby! Newt!"

Both of our heads whip towards the source of the concern to see Minho running at useful speed with wide panicked eyes.

Instantly, Newt and I are in high alert. Minho is never panicked and he wouldn't be running at us in a dead sprint unless something was horribly wrong. The only time I can remember him running like that was when Newt…

"The Map Room," Minho pants when he arrives at where we are standing, gasping in breaths of air, "you need to come see, it's not good."

The Map Room? Well, shuck, that's not good. That's the one place we don't want anyone screwing with or jacking up. It's our only way of finding a way out and it has everything we know about the Maze in there.

As soon as Newt and I realize just how bad this situation is, the three of us turn and go in a dead sprint towards the place in question.

Bursting through the door within seconds, my eyes wildly move across the room, assessing the entirety of it. The Map Room has been completely trashed. Papers are strewn everywhere; torn, wet, crumpled, or a mixture of them all. The wooden table is flipped and one of the legs is broken off and laying across the room from it. A large, prominent dent in the wall is above where the wooden leg is.

"Holy shuck," Newt whispers, his eyes roaming across the fallen bookshelves that lay in pieces across the floor, a pile of disorganized paper blanketing the wooden floor under them.

Holy shuck doesn't even explain how bad this situation is. Years of hard work down the drain because someone decided to destroy all the research and documentation we've done. This could mean that it'll be _decades_ before we get anywhere close to leaving this hellscape.

"Alby," Newt breathes, his eyes wide with horror and face deadly pale as he gazes at the wall behind me. He lifts his hand up- they're covered in a sheen of sweat- and shakily points at the wall.

I've only felt fear two times that I can remember. One being when I first came to the Maze and had zero members of who I was or where I was. Second being when Alby came back into the Maze clutching Newt's crumbled, broken body. The look on Newt's face is enough to make me realize that whatever he's pointing at will make me very afraid.

I slowly turn, mentally preparing myself for the possibly horrific display I know I'm about to see. Goosebumps rise up on my arms in preparation for what I'm about to see.

My eyes rise to the exact place Newt's looking. A pit of dread nausea forms in my stomach as the gory scent and horrifying image registers fully in my mind. This is so much worse than I had imagined.

Written on the walls in a distinctive blood red, are the words 'The girl's next'.

"Oh shuck," the Keeper of the Runners breathes.

And I couldn't have said it better myself.


	14. Chapter 14

Diana's POV:

Ever since the fight happened, everyone's been super… _weird_. Everyone except for Gally is pretty much avoiding me. As soon as I walk by, they go the opposite direction. When I sit down to eat, they find some excuse to leave the table and I'm left completely alone. It kinda hurts, not gonna lie.

The most weird thing that's happened is the fact that Alby and Newt have been actively trying to avoid me. I expected them of all people to talk to me or at least keep me updated, but apparently I was completely wrong to assume such a thing. They always appear to be concerned when I show up and observe me, but I'm not exactly sure why, I'm getting mixed signals and I don't know what to do.

They have yet to give me an actual role and I've completed all my training, so I'm currently screwing around in the forest. It's not actually that fun. Not that anything here is actually fun.

I kick a rock into the stream out of boredom. It sinks as soon as it hits the water and I let out a long sigh. I'm so shucking bored.

"Newt, I don't know what we're going to do," an annoyed, frustrated voice says, "We have to keep her safe somehow and the only way we're going to do that is by figuring out who's behind the message in the Map Room."

My interest is piqued. As the only she in the Glade, I know for a fact whoever is talking to Newt, is talking about me.

I slowly move closer to the source, keeping out of site and careful to not step on any branches or leaves. I get as close as I can, hiding behind a tree. I peer towards the source of the voices and next to Newt is Alby.

Maybe I'll be able to finally figure out why they're avoiding me. Then, I'll give them a piece of my mind and chew them out for their treatment. As far as I know, I did absolutely nothing to deserve their coldness.

"Well, no one's come after her yet. And I'm not really sure who would. It's definitely not the kid who started a fight with Winston, he was locked up the entire time. I just have no idea who would threaten her and have access to the Map Room."

Wow, hold up. Someone's threatening me?! And no one told me about it? There's a possibility of something very bad happening to me and they just decided not to tell me. I've been wandering around the woods alone, don't they understand how bad that situation could end for me?

"It has to be one of the Keepers. That's the only possibility. They're the only ones that would be able to get the keys to the Map Room. We narrow it down pretty easily, but I don't want to believe any of these guys would threaten her wellbeing," Alby states, rubbing his face with frustration.

Jeez, if he's frustrated with the possibility of me dying or injured, imagine how I must be feeling.

"I know, but we have to remember that this is the first time in over two years that these guys have seen a girl. Different emotions and urges are going to show up and that they might have a poor handle on," Newt states, clearly trying to help Alby move on from the moral pedestal he's put his fellow Keepers on. "She's pretty and they are teenage boys with hormones that are very desperate for a relationship."

Alby looks at Newt, annoyance glinting in his eyes. "Newt, _we_ are teenage boys with hormones that are very desperate for a relationship. The difference is that we have had absolutely no urge to hurt her in any way. This isn't someone being over the top attracted to her, this is a shucking threat that they're going to _harm_ her. If they were interested in her, they would get her flowers or whatever crap girls like."

Whatever crap girls like? Geesh, the stereotypes are disgusting. I mean, yeah I like flowers, but literally every single kind here is ugly. Also, they've definitely heard me talk about other stuff I like. I've been here like two weeks, they should know _something_ by now.

"I guess you're right, but there's got to be at least some kind of unrest or obsession happening in order for whoever it is to decide to put possibly blood on the walls of the Map Room and completely ransack it."

Wait, wait, wait. Someone put _blood_ on the walls of a super secret locked room to send a threat about me. My goodness, I'm about to start freaking out. Every second I listen to this conversation, the situation somehow gets worse and worse, I have no idea what I'm going to do.

"Does anyone else know about the Map Room incident yet?" Newt asks. "Did you tell any of the Keepers yet?"

"No, I'm just keeping it between me, you, and Minho. It's the safest thing we can do."

Minho, huh?

I wait until Alby and Newt leave before relaxing and moving out of my spot from behind the tree.

Looks like I'm going to find the Keeper of the Runners and find out exactly what's going on.


	15. Chapter 15

Minho’s POV:

Ya know, my day started out pretty good. Frypan made pancakes with little chocolate chips on them and there was enough maple syrup for everyone to absolutely go to town with it. So, I got to eat a shuck ton of chocolate chip pancakes with about a gallon of syrup on each, and that was the perfect way to make sure a day was going to be great. However, I should've realized it was too good to be true.

“Minho! Listen to me! You have to tell me what’s going on!” a very angry Diana yells at me, clearly stressed out and mad. Hopefully she’s not mad at me, I wouldn’t take it well. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m listening,” I mutter sadly. I glumly think back to the pancakes, they were warning me with their goodness. Warning me that the rest of the day is going to be complete garbage and that they were going to be the only thing this entire day that goes right for me. 

After I had finished licking my plate clean of the delicious maple syrup, I had to go make a stop to get some supplies from behind the Map Room. Little did I know, a small, enraged female was waiting for me. 

“Stop being all salty about it! My life is apparently in danger and no one will tell me what’s going on and everyone keeps avoiding me.” There was a twinge of pain at the end of her sentence.

A wave of guilt flows through me. Of course she feels like crap, she’s being ignored. The only defense I can really come up with is that it was Alby and Newt’s idea to stay away from her, some garbage about how it’s better to keep track at a distance rather than constantly hang around her. Which, if I’m being completely honest with myself and everyone here, it’s complete bs and they’re avoiding her ‘cause they're trying to calm their feelings. Clearly they didn’t think about her feelings regarding the situation. 

“Uhh, I have no idea what you’re talking about there, greenie,” I respond dumbly, taking the safer route and pleading ignorance. Maybe she’ll believe it.

“Funny. You’re full of cow crap, Minho. You’re the smartest shuckhead in this Glade and there’s no way that you don’t know what’s going on,” she snaps aggressively, “And you’re conveniently best friends with the two people who know exactly what’s going on.”

Ah, shuck. She’s too smart for her own good. “Alright, fine. I know exactly what’s happening. But I’m only telling you ‘cause you said that I’m the smartest person here. I’m obsessed with flattery and compliments, it helps my ego.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Now you’re getting off topic, tell me exactly why I’m in danger and what the whole deal with the two shuckheads being all sneaky is about.”

Maybe I can lie? “It was just a prank to get back at you for not following the rules. The leaders are too soft to actually throw you into the Slammer, so we had to get creative.”

“Causing me possible emotional trauma and alienating me from everyone here as punishment?” She rolls her eyes again. They must be getting a workout. “Yeah, right. Tell me what actually is up or you’re not going to like what I do next.”

I feel like she couldn’t cause me any real harm, but I don’t actually know her that well. Maybe she’s super hardcore and has a real good karate chop that would snap my spine in half. Probably not, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind going forward. And maybe she’s super speedy and she can do a flying karate chop that instantly kills me as I run away. Gotta be careful.

“Ok, fine, I’ll tell you. But here’s the deal, you don’t say anything about me telling you and you don’t say anything to them. They’ll know I told you and I don’t want to deal with them being mad at me. Got it?”

She nods, focusing on my words as if she’s about to prepare for the worse.

So, I explain to her everything that happened. I tell her about how the Map Room was completely ransacked and the message that was written on the wall. However, I completely leave out the part about the writing in the room being blood red, wouldn’t want to stress her out too badly. 

She looks slightly shaken as I finish it. She wanted to hear exactly what happened and I hadn’t planned to hold back. In fact, I was the only one that had wanted to tell her when this all happened. She needed to know so she could protect herself, but apparently that wasn’t a good enough reason to tell her. 

Diana shakes a little harder before she speaks. “Let me get this straight. My life is in danger and there’s a possibility that I could come under physical or bodily harm, and you guys  _ kept _ that from me.” Her voice is absolutely seething with rage as she speaks, her eyes glint with unrestrained anger as she looks right at me.

Oh shuck. She’s mad mad. That is not good.

“And to make it worse,” she continues, her hands clenching into fists so tight that her knuckles turn white. “You guys completely  _ ignored _ me and left me wondering what the hell I did. When, in reality, I did  _ nothing _ wrong! Someone threatened to hurt me and I’m the one that’s ignored! None of you saw a  _ single _ problem with that?!”

“I tried, they didn’t let me. I’m not the one in charge here,” I defend, raising my hands in surrender in the hopes that she would calm down and direct her anger at someone other than me.

Her eyes narrow at me, the intensity of her glare still simmering. “That doesn’t mean anything! You still have free will and knew that what they were doing was wrong, but you still betrayed my trust and continued to put me in danger. You’re just as guilty as the other to.”

And with that statement, she turns and marches off. 

I let out a sigh. Those darn chocolate chip pancakes.


End file.
